Hannah Schofield

In fiction, my taste runs more commercial than literary, though some of my favourite novels sit in the sweet spot between the two, like Kiley Reid’s Such A Fun Age, Yaa Gyasi’s Transcendent Kingdom, or anything by Curtis Sittenfeld. While I do like sinking my teeth into deeper themes, I’m eagerly looking for juicy page-turners and highbrow beach reads, where low-stakes interpersonal drama – perhaps in a family, friendship group, or local community – feels incredibly high-stakes: Bad Summer People is a great example. I’m always up for posh people behaving badly!

I love love, and never get tired of finding a new couple to root for, whether that’s in a steamy romcom (with emphasis on ‘com’!) or a more sweeping, epic love story. I am so lucky to have a brilliant roster of clients writing romcoms so am particularly selective in this area; I’d would want to find something that’s putting a new spin on the genre. In romance, I can’t get enough of Tia Williams and Carley Fortune – the yearning! If you have something that could be a comp to either author, please consider sending it my way. And in romantasy I’m after high concept, high stakes and high swoon!

I’m keen to find some genuinely different-feeling historical fiction or historical fantasy, especially if the setting is neither Britain nor America. I’ve recently loved The Familiar and The Warm Hands of Ghosts for their incredibly immersive settings and rich evocation of the past.

In the darker side of fiction (thriller, mystery, suspense) my taste runs the gamut, but a clear and hooky premise will always stand out, and I tend to want my reads female-led. I’d love to see some sharp, relentlessly entertaining thrillers or mysteries – perhaps with a horror-lite twist – that have complex characters at their hearts, and a deep sense of place: Rachel Hawkins, Kara Thomas and Megan Miranda are all favourites in this area.

I’m also open to books which straddle suspense and book club, with strong women leads, that interrogate the world around us and what it means to be a woman in it (though I am not interested in excessive, on-page violence against women); Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll has stuck with me for months. I’m also drawn to antiheroines (with a righteous cause?!) like in Blood Sugar or The Lies I Tell.

YA was my first love in publishing, and forms a small and passionate part of my list. I’m excited to add more talent in that area, especially from the UK and Ireland. Top of my wishlist at the moment is a first love story, or anything which has the leap-off-the-page voice of Nina Kenwood’s It Sounded Better In My Head. Vibe is key for YA – I’d be thrilled to find something that feels like a Taylor Swift song!

Please think of me for popular history, particularly areas that have been under-taught in western education or women’s/domestic/family/social history – I would always be delighted to hear from experts in those fields.

I also love deep dive explorations of niche areas of culture or history, in the vein of Alice Robb’s personal and sociological examination of ballet in Don’t Think, Dear. Got this for gymnastics, musical theatre, or choral music? Please send my way!

In narrative non-fiction, I wanted to be hooked by a story so outlandish it could be fiction, and am a big fan of non-murder-y true crime, especially with a strong character or cast to anchor the plot, like in the shows Dopesick and The Dropout.